Thursday, November 29, 2007

Daniel-san and Mr Miyagi were, at best, caricatures. Daniel, the scrawny kid and victim of school bullies, and Miyagi, the one-dimensional image of the strange and peculiar Asian. When they meet, East and West, all kinds of cliches about Eastern values and way of life ensue, seemingly straight out of the Kwai Cheng Caine school. At one point, Miyagi, in his best stilted English and Fu Manchu accent, even offers Daniel-san this insight: "In Okinawa, all Miyagi know two things - fish and karate."

Yes, and all Japanese people know how to make sushi and speak in Zen sentences.

But all that aside, we scrawny victims of school bullies in the 80s lapped it all up, and cheered when Daniel-san delivered the final blow, Deadly Crane style.

Now, we don't know whether this is good or bad news, but China Films' Han Sanping has talked about a possible remake of The Karate Kid. Also thrown in was talk about the involvement of Will Smith and son Jaden, and either Jackie Chan or Stephen Chow as the Miyagi character. It would be called The Kungfu Kid.